458 Spider

Make
Ferrari
Segment
Compact

We need to be honest: autonomous driving is coming whether we like it or not. The research and development is no longer limited to new age tech companies or EV automakers, but also mainstream automakers – and Ford has been declared to be leading the pack with self-driving tech. According to TechCrunch, who came across an independent report from Navigant Research, a total of 18 different companies, including Tesla, Uber, and Google's Waymo, were examined to determine the current market leaders in autonomous tech development.

Researchers looked at automakers, suppliers, tech companies and mobility companies, and then broke them down into four groups: Leaders, Contenders, Challengers, and Followers. They were then ranked based on execution and strategy in terms of sales, marketing and distribution, product capability, product quality and reliability and staying power. Low and behold, Ford scored the top spot. Who was next? General Motors, followed by Renault-Nissan and Daimler. Who are some of the contenders? Tesla and Waymo, as well as BMW, VW Group and Hyundai. Challengers included Honda and – wait for it – Uber. In fact, Uber didn't even make it to the top 10 in the rankings.

Ford has learned of this research, and its Chief Technology Officer, Raj Nair, couldn't contain his excitement in a Medium post. "We at Ford certainly strive to be leaders in the self-driving revolution – leaders known for doing it right, putting our customers' safety first, and building a strong business that enables this technology to serve their needs." Ford CEO Mark Fields previously stated he wants the automaker to become a "mobility company" instead of just a carmaker. For example, Ford recently spent $1 billion to buy Argo AI, an autonomous tech company. It's honestly nice to see self-driving technology (since it's coming anyway) being led by a company that's actually a car company.